Airport Guide

History of San Francisco International Airport

To say that San Francisco International Airport had modest beginnings is putting it mildly. Established in 1927 on land leased from the local Mills farming family, it initially served as an air base for the National Weather Service until Pan Am arrived in 1935.

With its named changed from Mills Field, it started offering limited flying boat services across the Pacific Ocean, including popular routes to Hawaii.

The new airport's biggest break came with the outbreak of the Second World War. Nearby Oakwood International Airport was taken over by the military, meaning civilian flights were shifted to San Francisco.

Since then, the airport has not looked back, with United Airlines taking residence once the war ended, with the following decades witnessing numerous ambitious expansion projects.

In particular, the California 'dot-com boom' of the 1990s saw San Francisco become the sixth busiest international airport in the world, while an extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) system to the terminals was finally completed in 2003.

Travelling to San Francisco International Airport

San Francisco's world-famous BART system offers the only direct rail link between the airport and the Californian city, as well as the Bay Area in general. Direct trains run throughout the day and well into the night, with travel both cheap and speedy.

The only normal railway system servicing the airport is that of nearby San Mateo County.

Those travellers wanting to stop off in the suburbs of San Francisco can catch one of the regular buses heading downtown, while several airlines also operate their own private services for customers, such as China Airlines serving the nearby cities of Milpitas and Cupertino.

Once at the airport, the Air Train offers free travel between the terminals.

Airlines Flying from San Francisco International Airport

As the 23rd largest airport in the world, San Francisco International welcomes dozens of airlines fly from here on a daily basis, across four terminals and seven concourses.

Notably, it serves as a major hub for both United Airlines and Virgin America. The former accounts for 40 per cent of all traffic through the airport, offering services across the country as well long-haul flights to Canada, the UK, Australia and Asia.

Another major operator flying out of San Francisco, Virgin America, flies to Las Vegas, New York, JFK and Washington, while Virgin Atlantic flies to London Heathrow.

Among the national carriers also flying out of the airport are Australia's Qantas, Korean Air, Mexicana, Air France, British Airways, Emirates, Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific.